LETTER: Aftertaste of a wine show

WE would like to clarify two points in your article about Sainsbury's offer of wines to taste alongside our BBC2 series Jancis Robinson's Wine Course ("Top wine writer in BBC row over ads, 17 September).

No agreement has been entered into which allows Sainsbury's to sell wines featured in the series. No specific wines are recommended in the programmes; on the contrary, the series deals generically with grape varieties.

Nor does Eden Productions' investment allow the BBC "to air the series at a substantial discount". We merely took on the risk as co-producers, a role that is nowadays increasingly common in both BBC and commercial television - as the cost of producing original, beauti-fully photographed and well-researched programmes con- tinues to rise.

Nicholas Lander

Eden Productions Ltd,

London NW3